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Draft Minutes VAC Office Henricus Education Center The meeting was called to
order at 10 am. The following VAC representatives, Chapter members and
guests attended: Fairfax Northern Neck Richmond Margaret
O’Bryan National Audubon Society Dave
Pardoe |
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The meeting was called to order at 10 am. The Minutes and Treasurer’s Report were read and approved. Eileen Rowan, Conservation Chair, reported on the Important Bird Areas project. She said that a grant application had been approved by Virginia’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) and the project had been awarded $63,000 with funds available on October 1. Initial goal is to nominate Important Bird Area sites in Virginia, prioritize them, and publicize them. DGIF will be closely involved. The idea is to identify key areas, not designate them, based on objective scientific findings. The report should not be seen as a “political’ document. Chapters can contribute
to the IBA effort by identifying IBA in their Chapter areas and providing
people for technical committees needed to carry out the IBA work. Dave Pardoe reported on
National Audubon Society developments. He said the June meeting of the NAS
board had approved drawing money from the endowment to fund State
Offices. The $1 million set
aside for the first year is intended to fund State Offices in Virginia,
Georgia, Arizona, Illinois and Indiana.
The $200,000 per State office would allow NAS to hire Executive
Directors and get the process started.
Dave also discussed new
member guidelines, notably that there is no longer a requirement that every
Chapter member receive a newsletter.
Chapters are encouraged to be proactive in identifying those members
who want to receive the newsletter, and who might, therefore, be more active
in Chapter activities. He added that Glenn Olson
and Tom Urquhart would visit Richmond in early August to start the process of
forming the Virginia State office. The VAC needs to show them the advantages
of Richmond as the State office location, alternatives for the office site,
statistics on the audience for State office activities, especially
educational programs, and introduce them to key contacts in the area. Richmond Audubon Society took the
lead in welcoming Olson and Urquhart and indicated a willingness to host a
dinner on August 13 that would include any VAC Chapter representatives who
could make it to Richmond. VAC representatives also need to study closely the draft Indiana State Office and Executive Director documents to determine if they are models for the Virginia State office. Comments should be passed to the VAC Secretary as soon as possible. Andy Tate reported that
the Nominating Committee, which also included Manny Barrera and Tom Teeples,
would propose a list of Officers before the next meeting. The next meeting of the VAC is scheduled for Saturday, October 27, 2001. The meeting adjourned at 1 pm. Respectfully submitted,
Manny Barrera |
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